Downstairs Bedroom Updates

It’s been a while since I’ve shared progress on the downstairs bedroom situation. And that’s mostly because progress was put on hold by a dog injury that required over 12 vet visits in one month, the Christmas holidays, and now some pending nuptials to plan.

One change that only a stalker would notice in this picture is that the ombre dyed curtains have been hemmed.  I wasn’t crazy about how they pooled on the floor originally.  So in November my mom came down armed with a sewing machine to whip them into proper floor-grazing shape.

On the same weekend visit, we also did some shopping in Clinton, TN, where my interests were piqued after their fall festival.  We made a great find in this vaguely mid-century style dresser.

Clearly kitty likes it.  I do too.

We were looking for something that was kinda leggy like this one, because the air vent is right below it.  I also wanted something that was clearly old and antique-y without being too ornate.  My mom spotted this one under a pile of other junk in the very last store we visited.  Good eye, mamasita.

Sitting atop the new dresser right now is this jewelry box, a Christmas present from my sister and another new addition to this room.  I haven’t gotten around to actually storing my jewels (er, friendship bracelets) in here yet, but plan to.

Ah yes, this little sad corner.  I did add this colorful $7 carpet from World Market, but other than that it’s rather unsightly…cardboard boxes, old K-mart kitchen chairs, and some pictures that I’ve gone to the trouble of framing but haven’t hung.  Let’s face it, it’s going to be months before I actually hang these up.

And you can file this one under lazy too.

This would be a half-assed attempt to disguise the ol’ boob lamp without actually installing a new fixture.  I removed the glass dome, and screwed in this $12 shade from the Target clearance rack.  I used a (very) abbreviated version of this process and haven’t actually gotten around to covering up the bottom opening.

I’m not really sold on this yet, because the shade isn’t actually a round drum shape, it’s kind of angled.  Thus it just looks like an upside down lampshade in the middle of the room.

What do we think?  Chic cheap solution for getting rid of the boob light?  Or “what’s the upside down lampshade doing up there”?

2012 Resolutions

Okay, so here’s the post where I lament how little progress was made this year on the house.  Take it all with a grain of salt though, because in reality a lot went down in 2011.

Exactly one year ago I wrote a long list of “resolutions” that was really just a disguise for my general to-do list.  Let’s see what kind of progress I made on each of these 4 goals:

1. Make the Living Room Attractive and Functional

This one is legitimately complete.  The living room has gone through a lot this year, and we get to enjoy it everyday.  When I think back to what a stark mess this room was 12 months ago, get damn proud of the progress we’ve made.

Among the dozens of individual improvements I’ve posted about this year, the highlight for me is this kickass sectional sofa that I’m sprawled out on as I type this sentence.  It was a joyful purchase.  It’s bliss.

Really, the only remaining to-do for the living room is that damn barn door.  I still really want one, but I’ve been stingy about spending $300+ on the hardware for it.  Plus after the coffee table building, I wasn’t ready for another half-assed woodworking attempt.  But I still really want to get that thing up in 2012.  Oh and throw pillows.  Need more THROW PILLOWS!

Okay, what was next?  Oh jeeze…

2. Paint the Downstairs Bathroom

Did.  Not.  Happen.  Not even close.

3. Make the Guest Room More Comfortable

Okay, we’re good on this one.  Starting this summer I have made a TON of progress in here.  So much that we’ve taken to sleeping down here all the time now since it’s more convenient, comfortable, and efficient for heating/cooling purposes.

The only thing left to do in here is add some lamps and accessories, and hang some art on the walls.  I haven’t given y’all a proper update on this room in a while, so stay tuned for that next week.

4. Tackle Some Minor Outdoor Improvements

At this time last year, I was fantasizing about the 2011 vegetable garden.  We put a lot of time and effort into it this year, and overall I’d say it was a success. Full mid-season report can be found here.

The main lesson learned was that we can’t fight the grass.  The grass will win. Next year we’re just sticking to the established beds and not bother with the tiller.

As for all the other lofty aspirations of re-screening the porch and such, no dice. Any and all hard labor this summer was devoted to the tree massacre cleanup. It still looks like a shit dump back there, and the screens on the porch have only gotten worse.

 

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO IN 2012?

1. Get Married.  Yes, it’s true!  After much procrastination and six years together Danny and I are getting married on February 18.  Albeit a small party (<30 guests), planning it will consume all of my free time for the first part of the year.  It’s going to be completely awesome.  I’ll tell ya more later.

2. Finish all this shit I wanted do in 2011.  That’s right, no additional aspirations for progress in 2012.  If I could finish my 2011 to-do list by December 31, 2012, I’ll be a happy woman.

Iron Plant Hanger

Check this thing out, a custom-cut metal plant hanging hook.

This was made just for me by my metalworking friend Eric.  You might remember him from the kick ass hairpin legs from my DIY coffee table.  Eric is super awesome for making me these fun things in his spare time.

I originally made a very simple drawing for him of what I had in mind, but he took it and made it much more stylized and unique by cutting these curvy shapes.

The longer we’ve lived here, the better I’ve gotten about keeping plants alive.  The small one you see here in the little white pot has now been alive for 12 months.  (12 months!)  It’s the christmas cactus I got last year around this time.  It still hasn’t bloomed yet, but I forgive it.  And the snake plant in the corner has been there since last May, still kickin’.

One of the main problems with plants in our house is our dumb cat.  She likes to chew on the leaves.  Not actually eat them, just sink her needle-y little teeth in and chew.  So they have to be strategically placed around the house at heights she can’t reach.  Thus, the idea came up for a hanging planter here in this corner of the room.

When I saw this project a few months ago, I was completely sold.  I love the simple knotted technique for hanging any pot or planter.  So I bought some inexpensive synthetic rope and started tying some knots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The instructions were very easy to follow and leave a lot of room for experimenting with different lengths and stuff.  I’m planning on trying a few different variations for outdoor use this summer.

The actual planter I’m using is not a planter at all.  It’s a bowl from my sister’s Etsy shop that I got from her this summer.  I think it’s a great use for it.

The plant itself came from my parents house.  They’ve amassed many houseplants over the past few years, and now that I’m responsible enough to keep them alive, they brought a few down in November.

Rather than re-pot the plant directly in the nice bowl, I just kept it in it’s light plastic container and dropped it in.  Fits perfectly, easy to swap out later, and less heavy than filling the whole thing with dirt.

This was one of the last few things on my list of to-do’s for the living room.  So close I can taste it.

Now to go figure out that sliding barn door….

Holiday Decor

This will be our second Christmas in this house, and we just haven’t been compelled to get a tree.  We’ll be going up to PA for the actual holiday again, so it has just seemed like overkill to put one up for a few busy weeks before we head out of town. Plus we don’t have a good spot for it, the animals will mess with it, and several other excuses to rationalize this decision.

But this year I felt a little more compelled to put some things up to remind us that yes, it is December.

I bought a few tree shaped things in natural and red tones, added a wire basket with glass ornaments, and put some seasonal type stuff in the vases I already had around the house.  Plus I tried my hand at making this bunting garland with fabric scraps I had lying around.

The bunting doesn’t exactly scream “Christmas” in these particular fabrics, plus it needs to come down when we light an actual fire.  But it was very easy project that I just wanted to experiment with a little.  I just cut out many of these diamond shaped pieces of fabric and glued them around a length of kitchen twine.

If you’re only using this for a temporary seasonal or party decoration, I would recommend doing it with paper or card stock instead.  You’d get the same exact look, but it would be lighter and easier to cut.  It would be cute in different colors for a kid’s room, or a birthday party or something.

For whatever reason, one single solitary stem of holly started growing in our front garden bed this fall.  Rather than nurture it into a tree, I snipped it off and put it in a vase.

The red berries are also from a larger bush out front.  Last year I used them in a wreath for the door.  But as they started drying out, they started falling off every time the door was opened.  Then the dog started eating them, and it caused some… issues.

So this year, I went way more minimal with the wreath.  This is an idea that (of course) came from pinterest, that I thought would be a good use for this grapevine wreath that I already painted white last year.  I used lengths of fuzzy red wool yarn and just wrapped it neatly around the wider branches on the wreath.  I like it though, kind of minimal and cool, but still stands out on the red door.

So I’ve progressed a little in my holiday spirit since last year.  We’re getting a little closer to acting like normal festive adults.  Maybe next year we’ll go all out… no promises though.

Happy holidays to everyone out there!

Sewn Felt Slippers

I’m a recent convert to Martha Stewart Living.  It’s pretty great.  Judge me if you will.

Last week the December holiday issue came in and I was enchanted (yes, enchanted) by this felt slipper project in the handmade gifts feature.

So cute, right?  Not even considering to do this as a Christmas gift, I selfishly needed a pair of these ASAP for my own feet.  I ordered the suggested 3mm felt from filzfelt.com for $20, as recommended by Martha’s peeps.  This really wouldn’t work with regular craft felt.  The rigidity of the thick 100% wool felt holds up the structure of the slipper.

I chose this mustard yellow color.  I don’t know why.  But it matches the rug in the office, apparently.

It wasn’t until I had cut out the little template pattern that I remembered something important.  I’m terrible at sewing things, and I kind of hate doing it.

Oops.

But I sucked it up, and just started in on the simple stitches around the edge of the cut pattern.  It’s really very simple, if you’re patient and take a little extra care to keep your stitches nice and even.

By the end of the day, I had not just two, but three sewn felt slippers:

Three?  Yeah, three.  The first one that I made was way too small.  I could kind of shoehorn my foot in there, but it gave me sausage-foot and was cutting off the circulation to my toes.

So with a zen-like calmness, I started over.  And #2 and #3 came out much better-fitting.  Plus that first throwaway one helped me realize the ideal length/distance for the stitches, so the second try was much neater and more even.

Before starting, I had it in my head that the contrasting thread color was the way to go.  But that was before I considered my child-level sewing skillz.  So in retrospect, if I had chosen a yellow or lighter colored thread, I think they’d look a little more polished, maybe a little more “handmade” and a little less “homemade”.

But I’ll tell you what… they’re cozy as all hell.  Seriously, they’re super soft.  And because they’re pretty snug fitting, it kind of feels like a big wooly sock.

These would be cute and easy to do in little kid sizes, but I think the pattern is a little too dainty for the mens sizes.  Also, if you plan on making these, I would recommend being generous with the size of your pattern.  I usually wear a size 7.5 shoe, and my first way-too-small attempt was cut according to the women’s size 8 from the printed chart on MarthaStewart.com.  I don’t have unusually wide feet, but the original pattern wasn’t wide enough at all to fit me.

They are pretty slippery on the wood floors, too.  There’s probably something I could put on the bottom to make them more non-slip, but I’m not sure what. I’d say you should definitely look into that if you’re doing kids’ sizes.